What is Poegtap?

Poegtap is, quite simply, a vision for a better world. ‘Peace on earth’ and ‘Goodwill to all people’ are, of course, two sides of the same coin. If everyone on earth showed goodwill to everyone on earth then peace on earth would follow. It’s as simple as that. That is the essential message of the Christmas angels, heralding what would follow.This vision for a better world was first set out two thousand years ago in the years following the Christmas story.It is a vision that Jesus spent his life outlining and promoting - a vision for what he called “The Kingdom of Heaven’. In other words a heavenly kind of place where earthly values did not hold sway - a kingdom of peace and goodwill.This vision has sadly been buried deep within church institutions by centuries of 'religion', and we think it's time to unpack it from all of that.

Poegtap has two threads running through it.

The first is our ‘Humanifesto’. This is about us, as individual humans, and how we, by how we live out our lives, can in our own small way work to help to bring about this state of affairs. Total global peace and universal goodwill is probably an impossible dream, but anything that can improve on the current climate heavy with hatred, mistrust and self-interest is to be desired.

Our ‘Humanifesto’ is somewhat contrived, in that it is based on an acrostic using the letters which make up the word ‘POEGTAP’, itself an acronym of the angelic message. Nevertheless we like to think that it encompasses the essential themes which go together to make up ‘a joined-up approach to living a better life’.These seven principles are very loosely framed to cover as broad a curriculum as possible, and of course there is a degree of overlap. Together they signpost the way towards building the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ right here, right now.Of course Jesus did not have a monopoly on this kind of teaching, and many great leaders and spiritual guides through the ages have left us their thoughts concerning living this kind of life. We plan to draw from as wide a pool of knowledge and wisdom as possible.In addition, it is our hope that those who participate will be able to contribute heir own experiences of what has worked for them, so that the knowledge base is increased.We may think that there is nothing that we can do that will make any difference, but we hope to show through Poegtap that this is far from being the case. To quote a couple of well-known aphorisms to give us hope as we set out :“Every ocean is made up of nothing but tiny drops of water.”“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (this second quote is from the Chinese Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu, who we shall be hearing from again).

We cannot understand all of the teaching of Jesus, however, without understanding something of the man behind it. We need to do that both to unpack the timeless truths from the cultural and religious baggage which comes down to us from the times in which they were first expressed, and also because there are things in this teaching which invite us to go beyond the life of this world into the super-natural realm. This is the second thread.When we begin to weave these two threads together we start to see something that is much more than the sum of the parts. We grow, as human beings, as we learn more about our true place in the overall scheme of things, and realise something of our full potential - body, mind and spirit.

Poegtap begins with ourselves, by preparing us for this undertaking, and ends also with ourselves, since any change we are to be participants of has to begin with action by, and if necessary, change in, ourselves.

For each of us there will be some of these 'humanifesto' topics which come more naturally or easily to us than others; that interest us more than others; or that we think are more effective or important than others. Nevertheless, it is our view at Poegtap that for a balanced ‘humanifesto’ it is important that all are embraced.